


Demon's

by TheFangirlChick



Series: One More Year [2]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-25
Packaged: 2017-12-26 22:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/970904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFangirlChick/pseuds/TheFangirlChick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow up to Stay Strong. It's been a year since Maeve come back into Reid's life. But will a threat from the 'Zugzwang' group become reality and take one away from the other, permanently this time? Is there anything the rest of the team can do to help? If it wasn't Steven or Diane behind everything, who is? I suggest reading the first story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Spencer Reid woke on a dull, cloudy Tuesday morning to the sound of his phone going off, signaling he'd just received a text. It was almost exactly as it had been when he woke up and went on a case that lead him to getting Maeve back. The only difference was she was in the bed with him, still asleep. He knew it was probably work, they would be calling him in for a new case, but when he picked it up the text was from 984-9269, a number he did't recognize. He studied the number and then gasped and bolted into a sitting position, wake Maeve as he did so.

"What is it?" Maeve asked.

"Nothing, sorry for waking you," Reid replied. now opening to text. Maeve assessed his tone and expression, then sat up. Reid didn't seem to notice, he was to busy read the text message. It read:

Hey, Reid, how are you? How's Maeve? I hope you've

enjoyed you're year together, as it's about to end.

Best of wish's.

~Zugzwang.

Reid looked at her and calmly said, "Do you remember what happened two years ago in two day's?"

"Diane's suicide and my fake death, why?" Maeve asked.

"Do you remember what happened last year, same date and time?" Reid asked.

"I returned from the dead, came back to you, why? What's going on?" Maeve asked, slightly panicked.

"Do you remember what happened the morning following?" Reid asked, looked down at his phone.

Maeve gasped, "They're back?" Panicked was definitely in her voice now, cause it to almost tremble with it's weight.

Reid nodded, "We have to go to the office. Why don't you get a shower and I'll call Hotch?"

Maeve nodded and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on her way to the bathroom.

Reid hit Hotch's speed dial and waited for him to pick up. When he did Hotch asked, "Reid?"

"Yeah, I think we've got a problem," Reid replied.

"Where are you?" Hotch asked.

"My apartment. Zugzwang's back," Reid told him.

"We've been waiting for you, what have you been doing?" Hotch demanded.

"Did you text or call me?" Reid asked.

"Yeah, we call your home line, too. We didn't get through, why?" Hotch asked.

"I didn't get any of them, only the text from them," Reid replied, "We're coming in after I get a shower. We'll be there soon."

"We?" Hotch asked.

"They're threaten Maeve, too," Reid explain.

"We'll see you soon," Hotch said and they hung up.

Reid put his phone on the bed side table and laid a suit out on the bed, for when he got his turn in the shower. Then he went into the kitchen and filled the coffee pot with water from a couple water bottles in the cupboard and poured some coffee in it. Then Reid pulled a box of muffins out of the cupboard, put one on a plat and set that on the counter. Then he grabbed himself one and began to eat.

He'd barely finished when Maeve got out of the shower. Reid poured some coffee into his tumbler, then got a quick shower.

They got to the office about ten minutes after he'd finished and, after grabbing his satchel, Reid and Maeve walked calmly towards the building. They held up momentarily by the guard, asking who Maeve was.

"She's my girlfriend," Reid explained, "She not going to cause any problem's."

"She's your girlfriend?" The guard asked. When Reid nodded the guard looked over at Maeve and fell about himself, laughing.

Reid looked over at Maeve, "You know this is how Morgan would've reacted had the whole stalker thing not happened." Maeve giggled as the guard sobered up.

"Right," the guard said, "You'd better get a visitor's pass."

As they walked toward the front desk for said pass, Maeve laced her finger's through Reid's and asked, "Why did he find the fact I am your girlfriend funny?"

Reid waited until they were alone in the elevator, after they'd got the pass, to explain, "I was probably the one on the team that would be picked out as single. The 32 year old genius vs Morgan who could have almost any girl he wanted, Hotch who was married and is currently in a relationship, Rossi who's had three wives, Garcia who was proposed to, but she declined, JJ who's married, and Blake who's married."

"You're still doing one better than Morgan," Maeve offered and smiled. Reid smiled back, then they leaned in and shared a quick kiss before pulling away just before the elevator doors swung open. They walked hand in hand to the conference room.

Reid pulled his from her's and opened the door. There had been an extra seat put at the table and a white board had been set up next to the screen. Reid and Maeve sat down. The team and Maeve sat in silence for a minute. Two. Three.

Finally Hotch broke the silence. He clicked a button on the remote he was holding, which cause the word Zugzwang to come up the screen. Then he ask, "Where do we start?"


	2. Chapter 2

Finally Hotch broke the silence. He clicked a button on the remote he was holding, which cause the word Zugzwang to come up the screen. Then he ask, "Where do we start?"

"As far back as we can go," Reid said. The team turned to stare at him, then Maeve.

"All right then," Garcia pulled her laptop out of her bag and began typing. The big screen changed so it was showing what was on her laptop screen. Garcia called up a picture that was taken of Maeve and Diane laying on the ground after Diane had committed suicide and Maeve had 'died'. Reid closed his eye's for a moment remember his reaction, and then seeing the pictures Steven had locked as Maeve's background. The ones that had mysteriously appeared on his. Reid opened his eye's and felt Maeve slide her hand in his, silently asking if he was ok. Reid squeezed her hand, but made no reaction to it above the table.

Reid looked back at the screen just as Garcia was pulling up an other picture. This picture was of a rainbow with a unicorn with a puppy in it's back with a kitten on the puppy's back. Reid held back a laugh as he glanced over at the rest of his team who, even Hotch, seemed to be trying hard not to fall into fits of laughter. It was rather odd to see Hotch smiling, especially in the conference room, especially under these circumstances.

"What the hell is that?" Morgan asked, cause JJ to giggle.

"That, is one of the cutest thing's I've ever seen," Garcia explained, "Right after Jack, Henry, and Reid." The team couldn't help it, they started to giggle. They sobered up quickly, which gave Reid the chance to re-asked Morgan's question.

"I believe he mean's what the hell is it doing there?" Reid asked.

"It's being cute," Garcia replied, "The threat's were kinda bringing down the mood and the death picture was adding to that so, there it is. I have more, too!" Garcia said that like it was something to be proud of.

"How many exactly?" Rossi asked like he was scared of the response it might bring.

"I think I'd go with a few billion considering that all the files just on her laptop full of files that have at least 1000 pictures each," Hotch said, cause the team to stare at him.

Rossi leaned forward to look past Morgan at Hotch, "Did you just make a joke?"

"I think he might have," Morgan said, a worried look on his face.

Reid, who had put his hand to his mouth, move the hand slightly and said, "I guess the apocalypse has come earlier than expected. And there was me thinking it would be the million's of unsub's we've put away breaking out."

The team burst out laughing, and then a thought seemed to cross Morgan's mind, cause him to call for silence, "Wait, did you, Dr Spencer Reid, just exaggerate a statistic?"

"Very much so," Reid laughed.

"So you know how many unsub's we've put away?" Blake asked.

"Since Gideon returned from his major depressive episode, yeah," Reid said and silence fell, the room staring at Reid as if waiting, "What you want me to ramble on about it? Any other time your telling me to shut up."

The team laughed again. A few minutes later, after every sobered up, Rossi asked, "So, how many have we found?"

"Found? 280. 148 died, 132 are living and 120 are locked up," Reid said.

"So what happened to those other... how ever many other who aren't dead or locked up?" Morgan asked.

"5 are at large and as for the other 7, it's questionable what happened to them," Reid explained.

"What? Still no ramblings? No explanations as to how many were classed as what type of unsub and how many from each died?" Morgan asked.

"Do you really want me to go there? Cause you know I will," Reid asked with a small smile.

"No," The team replied at once.

"Then shut up about it," Reid said, his smile widening into a grin, "Jeez, it's usually you lot telling me to shut up." The team laughed again.

"We'd better get back to work," JJ suggested, once they somewhat sobered up, as she dragged Garcia's laptop towards her. Before Garcia could protest, JJ had closed the picture of the rainbow, unicorn, puppy, and kitty off. "So what do we know about this part of the puzzle that is Zugzwang?"

"Diane was hired by someone to stalk Maeve, then abduct her," Reid started.

"When Diane committed suicide Maeve somehow survived, even though it appeared she'd died," Morgan continued, then the team turned to stare at Maeve, "How did you survive? It looked like you died as well."

Maeve stared at the table like she was trying to figure out what to say. Reid squeezed her hand gently. Maeve squeezed his hand back and explained, "Diane had me slightly in front of her. She force me slightly further ahead of her and began to force me to fall backwards before she pulled the trigger. I was knocked unconscious when I hit the floor."

Silence descended over the table they were all sitting around. This silence grew more and more uncomfortable. "She helped you?" Blake asked slowly, breaking the awkward silence.

Reid thought for a minute, "You know, in a way, Steven helped me, too."

"How so?" Rossi asked.

"He didn't tie me up and he let me warn you guys not to find me," Reid said, "Then he put his gun down."

Silence descends again, everyone thinking, until Maeve says, "What if they were warnings?" The team turned to stare at Maeve so she went on, "That is to say, neither of us was harmed, that much at least, while we were abducted. Both Diane and Steven had plenty of opportunities to attack, to kill us, and they made sure we knew when the other was taken. They gave us away out. Then they let us get away."

"Diane killed herself and Steven let me arrest him. They were scared of who ever they were working for," Reid said, "And Steven knew he had a year."

"How'd you get there? Never mind, one year cycle. His time is almost up," Maeve said, then blinked, "Diane died. He blamed you."

"That mean's the leader or leader's still at large have something against me. Probably personal to, since they wait a year and seem's to enjoy watching me suffer. Maybe they blame for the loss of a loved one," Reid's eye's got wide, "Wait, Steven blamed me."

"What's that got to do with-," Maeve cut her self off with a gasp, "My laptop."

"Exactly," Reid said, "The leader or leader's motives are personal, meaning," Reid started, but Maeve cut him off.

"He, she or they made a mistake and Steven gave us a clue," Maeve finished.

"Now we have to figure out what it is," Reid stated, "They couldn't help but see if I'm smart enough to figure it out."

"And this is an other reason why Steven is in the dog house with his boss," Maeve said, "He tried to help us bring them down."

"That's what doesn't make sense," Reid said, "Why would he try to help us? It's almost like he might not have even wanted to be part... Do you know if Diane had any type of addiction?"

"She was a bad smoker," Maeve said.

"Anything else?" Reid asked.

"I think I saw her doing something else," Maeve said, "Not sure what it was though..."

"Best guess?" Reid asked.

"Methamphetamine," Maeve said.

"And now we have a reason behind why they were in the group," Reid said.

"What the hell just went on here?" Morgan asked.

"I believe they just found a way to solve the case," Rossi said.

"That was impressive," Hotch said, causing Reid and Maeve to blush slightly.

"You mentioned a laptop with a clue on it?" Garcia asked.

"Yeah," Reid pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down the ip address and gave it to Garcia, "It's the backdrop."

Garcia hacked into the computer after shutting the screen off. Once she was in she called up the photo in a viewer and turned the screen back on. The team gasped when they saw the picture's Steven had somehow stuck as the background. Reid studied the picture. There was something missing in the back of the picture's. A gun, Reid thought.

"Damn," Morgan said, "There's no hint there."

"Yes, there is," Reid said, "Anyone remember what was on the wall behind me?"

The team shook their heads and Morgan asked, "You don't remember either?"

"I was a bit distracted," Reid said, then sighed, "Can any of you think of anyone I might have angered? I honestly can't think of anyone."

"Maybe it's some police man you rambled to," JJ suggested, and the team laughed.

"Yeah, no, don't think so," Reid said, "Anyone with a viable reason?"

The team shook their head's, "Great, that means we move on to what ever other case we had before this," Hotch said.

Garcia did some typing and the screen back to the word Zugzwang. Then she pulled her tablet towards her and brought up a presentation. There were two little boys that appeared in pictures on the screen. One looked like Jack and the other like Henry. Then there were the picture's of where their dead bodies were dumped. Then a third picture that was of a little girl about the same age as them appeared.

The little girl looked a lot like Maeve had when she was younger. Reid felt Maeve squeeze his hand, hard. He squeezed it back, "I think I know who's behind this."

"Who?" Hotch asked.

"Zugzwang," Reid said.

"Where'd you get that from?" Morgan asked.

"Jack and Henry look alike's," Reid said, "Plus it's been a year, and they seem to like to target my loved ones."

"So who's the girl?" Morgan asked, then looked at Maeve who was staring at table, "Never mind."

"Right, well, wheel's up in thirty. Reid, I'd like to talk with you for a minute before we leave," Hotch said, as he got up. The team followed suit, the exception being Garcia who was packing up her laptop.

"Where are we going?" Reid asked.

"Des Plaines, Illinois," Garcia answered, as she got up and left, too, closing the door's as she went.

"You have an idea who is behind this all," Maeve accused.

"Yeah," Reid replied.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Maeve asked.

"Because, if I tell them, we track the person down, and then they will hide," Reid answered, "Problem postponed, not evaded completely."

"Right," Maeve said.

"I'd better go see what Hotch want's," Reid said.

"Try not to get killed," Maeve said and Reid laughed.

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything," Reid said, "Who knows, maybe Hotch will try to convince me to sit this one out."

"You'd never do that," Maeve said.

"Do you remember what was behind me?" Reid asked.

"No," Maeve said.

"I'll be back," Reid said as he got up to leave, then turned back to Maeve, "And stay away from Garcia unless there are other's present."

"Why?" Maeve asked.

"Well, A, she's Garcia, and B, she'll report whatever you say back to the rest of the team," Reid said, "Well that and she'll try to get you to eat a cookie and talk."

"About what?" Maeve asked.

"What I just told you about having an idea and where the hiding place I'm going to show you is," Reid replied.

Maeve smiled, but it faded as quick as it had come. She stood up, "What do you think's going to happen?"

Reid pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back. Reid said, "I don't know what's going to happen. I just know they, whoever they are, aer not going to hurt you again. I promise."

"They're not getting their hands on you either," Maeve said, and Reid smiled.

"So we do know what's going happen. We're gonna survive and catch the unsub behind this," Reid stated, and Maeve laughed.

"Right, well, I'd better get going before Hotch decides not to wait for an unsub to get me," Reid said as he pulled away from Maeve.


End file.
